The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1887-11-17

III I'll L.
The Crime Of Our Treasury Sur
plus, and Cash Balance.
What estimate would civilized, en-
lightened society put upon an indi-
vidual who. with strong box full Of
gold coin, deprived his family Of the
necessaries Of life. who would not ed
ucate his younger children nor fur
nish the older ones with tools where
with to earn a living, and yet who
appropriated to himself a large
share Of the products Of their toll,
eked out with the most meagre facil-
tiles and under the most cruel priva-
tions, to enable him to add to, and
gloat over his useless hoard?
Civilized, enlightened society
would vote such a man contempt
ible miser, and that the best service
he could render his family would re-
suit from his early demise.
The government at Washington Is
such q parent. It holds In its pos
session, hid away in various treasury
vaults more than seven hundred mill
ions Of dollars( $70O, 900, OOO) largely
drawn from the producing classes Of
the country by burdensolne tariff tax
alton, and as useless to the govern
ment or the people as though 1t had
never existed, while Thousands and
thousands Of children 60 without the
means to procure an education, and
hundreds Of thousands Of men are
paying two per cent q month to
some Shylock to procure their tools
OF trade in 1.-The battle for bread,
For quarter Of q century the gov
eminent has been levying and col
lecting these tariff taxes with the re-
lentless exaction OF an oriental des-
pot while more than million Of its
victims have not change Of raim-
emit or half dozen meals ahead.
Over its boarded treasure it chuckles
and grins and with dotard pride &C
tually parades it before the public
gaze as though 1t we're something Of
which to feel proud.
All that money it witholds from cir
culation, while the untold natural re-
sources Of the country remain unde-
veloped from want Of needed capital.
What matters it that children remain
ignorant! Are not our bonds worth
41.4O! What matters 1t that men are
robbed by usury in consequence Of
the scarcity Of money! What mat
tiers it that our natural resources go
undevelopsd? We have magnia-
cent cash balance and can pay as we
20. Our boundless resources remain
undeyeloped; labor stands idly wait
Ing. That the factors, Labor, and
Resources may wed, and beget wealth,
nothing IL necessary but money. Yet
our government locks up &70O, 000, 600
Of our scanty supply and points to
that as craftsmanship! This compels
the people to make bricks without
straw" or sell themselves into servi-
tude for years or forever to usurers
and spectators for capital with
which to operate.
Already foreign capitalists and
spectators are investing and rapidly
becoming the owners Of the natural
resources Of our country while our
own people look helplessly on, wait
Ing to become the lackeys and labor
ers Of alien masters. Thus foreign
ers take advantage Of the stupidity
Of our government and buy US into
bondage at the Lowest living rates. :
This Influx Of foreign capital that
the small party organs gloat over, Is
all very nice while the money is CON-
ing In and being put In circulation
and spent by our people. But they
should remember this money is not
like the treasury note,-an even ex-
change from the living fountain Of
the peoples national sovereign credit
for some commodity or service that
may be exchanged or rendered there
for.
In years OF savage warfare and
ruthless destruction when these
treasury notes were being paid out
for services rendered or material fur
nished; the nation, like an electric
shock, was pushed forward into an
era Of wealth production such as the
world never witnessed before, and in
. few short years produced more
wealth and made more substantial
Advancement In civilized progress
than had been effected during all the
previous existence of our republic.
No, this Influx Of foreign capital
II not Of that kind. 1t comes as q
mortgage upon your homestead, q
lien upon your labor, chain about
your limbs, q heritage Of serfdom for
your children. Wait till the divi-
Aends are due and the interest pay
able, and the outward endless flow Of
the nations life blood commences, to
continue forever and for aye.
Behold Ireland, look at India, look
ct Egypt, and learn from them what
absentee owners and spectators
with resident agents mean. They
mean the tenant Serf, the starved
RyOt, the despised Fellaheen.
Not a pleasant picture, truly, for
free men to contemplate. But this is
the persistent policy that our gov
ernments, state and national have
pursued since the passage OF the |
eo-called public credit strengthen
ing act" in 1869.
Every beggarly broker, every
scheming syndicate, every skinflint
epeculator, every sneaking sharp in
Europe has been invited to loan us
their credit; to come and take pos
session Of the natural resources with |
which bounteous nature with lavish
hand endowed this favored land of /
ours. In effect they are asked to
become our masters; that we will be |
content to be their wage slaves.
And they have come, and are conn., |
Ing still, singly and in crowds: until |
We have syndicates within syndicates |
corporations providing corporations,
wherever opportunities offer. The
lands, the mines. the railroads. are